SOCIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 



IT is hardly satisfying to conclude this consideration 

 of the infections of the digestive tract without some 

 reference to their sociological bearings. The medical 

 practitioner too often is forced to deal exclusively with 

 damage done damage of an irreparable character. 

 He is unable to grapple with the weighty problem of 

 preventing disease. In modern civilized communities 

 the task of prevention has fallen into the hands of 

 health boards. Where these have been guided by 

 highly intelligent and trained men, unselfishly devoted 

 to the public good (as has lately been the case hi New 

 York City), there has resulted a noteworthy diminution 

 in the death rates. This is true of many kinds of disease, 

 but applies with great distinctness in the case of the mor- 

 tality of infants from diarrhoeal disorders. The infant 

 mortality from such disorders is due mainly to the bac- 

 terial contamination of milk, and some municipal author- 

 ities have lately been able to insist on the systematic re- 

 jection of bad milk. The decline in deaths from summer 

 diarrhoeas is a result of this improved milk sanitation. 



The health boards have, however, only begun their 

 task. It is certain that the beneficent work of preven- 

 tion will in time grow so efficient as to make the fatal 

 milk infections of infancy comparatively rare, provided 

 something be also done to raise the intelligence of pa- 



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